The new season of TFT featuring Set 14: Cyber City is almost upon us, and before it drops this April 2 over on the live server, let’s talk about some of the key changes it has compared to its previous set, Into The Arcane.
Out With The Old And In With The New
The last set had units directly linked to or inspired by the Arcane series, featuring characters taken straight from the show like Vi, Silco, and everyone’s favorite father Vander. With anomalies and unit-specific buffs, it took glorious evolution to the next level!
Here in Cyber City, though, players are brought to a vibrant metropolis filled with competing factions vying for control. We’re also seeing some familiar faces return to the fray, with TFT fan-favorite Kobuko making a comeback after a brief hiatus—and even Shaco reappearing after a long-awaited return.
The aesthetics are futuristic and the factions are diverse, but you won’t be calling hacks in this set—because if everyone has hacks, maybe it’s actually a feature?
A Hackerman Is You
Cyber City’s mechanic this time around leans heavily into what it means to be a hacker, with Hacks taking center stage. As the set’s mechanic, Hacks bring unexpected changes to gameplay, affecting each player in a variety of ways—and they don’t do it the same way each time. Maybe it’s the starting encounter? Maybe it’s the augments? Maybe it’s even the shop itself or the carousel? Even life totals aren’t spared.
With each hack actually impacting the game—not just making you bigger by working out with Sett—every match is a new and fresh experience.
While trying out the new set on the PBE server (which can be accessed by creating a PBE account and launching it through the main LoL launcher on desktop, or the separate app on mobile), the hacks I enjoyed most from a competitive standpoint were the ones that altered augments.
Think about it this way: what’s better than one golden augment? Two silver ones. You’d think being in a lower tier would make them weaker—but need I remind competitive players that Pandora’s Bench and Pandora’s Items are silver too?
The screencap of my end board from the last game of my PBE stream should be enough proof of how great silver augments can be.
New Traits and Origins!
On the topic of traits in this set, I feel nostalgic reading up on Cyber City’s set-specific traits, which have similarities to older sets. There are shades of Heavenly from Inkborn Fables, Chem Baron BUT TECH, Academy but sci-fi, LITERALLY JUST EXECUTIONER, what if gambling but in reverse, Rebel but make it K/DA, Form Swappers but Everyone’s a Form Swapper, and more.
But really, this is an ode to my personal favorite trait this set—Nitro.
Each trait has proper names and all, but you get accustomed to them the more you play. Newbies might get confused trying to mix and match at first, but that’s where the fun of TFT lies—in experimenting and making cool things happen.
Playstyles like early rerolling, going fast 9, and tempo were all viable, and with everything being on the table, the sky’s the limit for how the meta could shape up. As for me, being the hard-stuck Diamond TFT player that I am, seeing T-Hex spit out its beam like a certain dinosaur and things exploding was enough to make me fully invest in Dynamo.
On a serious note, I love my 1-cost reroll comps—and having MULTIPLE scaling units like Shaco, the T-Hex, and even Rhaast tickles my fancy with all the options available.
Look Good, Feel Good
There’s a lot to look forward to with Cyber City dropping on the main server this April 2. Between the new expansion, new units, new gimmicks, and even fresh aesthetics—like portals now getting their own customization—it’s a great time to start or get back into TFT.
The beginning of an expansion is often filled with creativity and diversity, and Cyber City is no exception.
There’s so much in store, and there’s going to be even more. On a personal level, I’m excited to go more Dough-Bee than ever with cute cosmetics like this.
Download TFT now on iOS or the Play Store—or play it on desktop. Check out their website at teamfighttactics.leagueoflegends.com and follow @TFT for updates on their social media.
